The colony of Virginia required the holding of a freehold of fifty acres of land without a house, or twenty-five seres of land with a house at least twelve feet square. Pennsylvania required a freehold of fifty acres with twelve acres improved.
In most colonies a greater property qualification was required for voting for members of the upper house of the legislature than for members of the lower house.
Several colonies and early States limited office holding to Protestants.
The Constitution of the United States now declares that no State shall deny to any person the right to vote because of race, color, or previous condition of servitude, or because of sex. The Nineteenth Amendment enables women to vote on an equality with men.
A State may add further qualifications for voting, but no State may deny the right to vote for any of the above reasons. Several States have added literacy tests for voting, and others have denied the right to vote to such as are insane or who have been convicted of crime, unless pardoned by the Governor. A few States deny suffrage to those whose taxes are delinquent.
“The fundamental evil in this country is the lack of sufficiently general appreciation of the responsibility of citizenship.”—Theodore Roosevelt.
Teachers of children may well place greater emphasis on ideals, character, and personality as factors in the making of a Nation. Teachers ought to lay greater stress on biography in the teaching of history, civics, and citizenship. Teach children both to know and to love Washington, Lincoln, and Roosevelt. Teach older pupils and students to realize that the aims, ideals, and achievements of a Nation can never be higher than the aims, ideals, and achievements of the individuals comprising that Nation. To know the lives and characters of America's great men and women is to know American history, for they made American history what it is. Young people enjoy the study of great characters. We all retain a love for heroes and heroines however old we grow. Such study adds color and life to history and government and humanizes the entire subject. Teach lives and institutions rather than mere facts. Inculcate into the lives of boys and girls, and of men and women, a love for our country, for the men and women who made it, and for the institutions in which they have a part. Teach them that patriotism and loyalty are not duties only, but are rather the highest privileges given to the people of a republic.